The Internet 2.0 debate

Web 2.0 is the talk of the chattering business classes, well some of them, and this point was highlighted over the last few weeks by a number of talks about the subject.

Northern Guardian correspondent Helen Carter touched on the growing importance of the Internet to her role as a journalist as mentioned in the entry of 11th May.

I was lucky enough to see Mike Ryan of web agency Idaho give a seminar at Salford University on Thursday about Web 2.0.

The first point Mike made was that Web 2.0 was a bit of marketing speak to glitz things up, which obscured the issues.

He went on to explain the key correlations in what is generally classed as Web 2.0 site, of which Alexa claims there are 47,000:

Collaboration
Community
Content creation
Cheap and fast
Collective intelligence
Cumulative learning
Connection
Core values

Nothing it seems that does not begin with a capital C. I can be a cynic but it does begin with a "c" so I am happy to use it, will it be Web 2.0?

Mike went on to outline the possible changes ahead of us.

Web 3.0 will give users a more effective search based on context and not on recognition of a word. He used three words to describe the next generation of search: connected, open, intelligent.

Mike also stated that change was gathering pace. We should not be surprised to see web servers in light bulbs, voice activated computers and an online agent to buy for you.

Mike also featured in a debate at the Circle Club, which brought some conflict of opinion. Tom Cheesewright covers some of the issues on his blog.

Is Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 so radically different? Your bank holiday has now been spoken for you to ponder.